hidden gems

This summer, we went to a small island off the east coast of Jutland (Denmark.)
On our way there we passed a building that caught my eye - it was an odd mix of different building styles and looked something like this:



In passing, I saw a sign that said Glud Museum. After a bit of googling I found the website and on leaving the island on our way back we decided to pay a visit, mostly because of a certain folk-arty influence that flows through our work at the moment, but also because a bit of reading had convinced me that the founder of this museum was an interesting fella - he built the strange house and produced work like this:



At various points of his life, he had been submitted to mental hospitals and he had been banned from teaching drawing to a group of students. This guy was not technically mentally ill - he was just hot-headed and had strong opinions (Anti drink, smoke, coffee, meat).

He had a great love of architecture, of crafts and of preserving buildings for the past and because of that we had the chance to see this hidden gem of a museum. I had never heard of it before, but it would leave an impression and would directly influence the building of our Signalling System: We based the colour scheme on objects seen at Glud Museum - being a non-dane Annabelle was better at noticing things I had been accustomed to all my life - it takes an outsider to notice.



We'd like to return with a secret club, we'd like to organise some event there - these things shouldn't just be for big cities. Of course the eternal problem of funding will arise, but we will see if we can figure that out.

We will also need to investigate - if this little wonder escaped our eyes for so long, what other amazing stuff is out there? There's a communication task here too - why haven't we heard of it? there's a similar, but higher profile museum a bit further north - should these cooperate? Should Glud Museum target people nearer to the other museum?

rejected proposal: The Sign Bearer
or
Help fund our The Sign Bearer

earlier this summer, Annabelle Hartmann and I pitched a "sculpture" to Sculpture by the Sea in Århus and a few days ago we received an email saying that they had rejected it, now - this is not one of those bitter rants-posts. It's fine, it was a long shot and what we wanted to do wasn't really that arty.


examnination of combined signal - oh and the head of a fish.

Questions
You see, what we proposed was a re-think of the signalling system we made with The House of Fairy Tales: The purpose was different - where normal systems at sea give answers, facts - our system would ask questions, instilling a longing in people, a longing for adventure and everything but the mundane. It would also hint at a story about one exciting soul; the ever absent operator of The Sign Bearer.

Oh, by the way, it would have looked a bit like this:


It would be the tallest structure we'd ever built, we'd work with unknown (to us) techniques, but we knew that we could pull this off, but not how - now our problem is a different one:
How do we get to ask people these questions we wanted to ask them?
One very obvious solution is to do it anyway - we'd probably get in trouble for erecting a seven meter structure amidst "real" art and this version would require a crane, logs, a warehouse and several hard-hats so we will have to re-work again and make a much more hidden and subversive system with much smaller questions - whispering rather than shouting - which I am looking forward to.

Funding
With our rejection, funding vanished too so in order to do this, we will either have to do it on the cheap or raise money or a combination of both.

Therefore we will try to sell the model - everything we make from it will go into making The Sign Bearer. We will see if we can find other sources, but first off, we're ready to part with this

Offers welcome, big or small. Otherwise, you'll see it on ebay soon.


Also ready to leasve us is our Thames Festival signal system - with 6 two-sided signals and a Skull and Crossbones double signal. it's 2.7m tall and comes with ground spikes. Assembly required. Pickup only. Ebay Auction here.

claim your prize you green skinned sea maiden!

As summer is ending, there'll be one final chance to play with us in London at The Mayor's Thames Festival which is on 11th and 12th September. We will be there as part of The House of Fairy Tales' Waterwheel project.

Our little game will be about signals and curses and tattoos, and while we don't want to give too much away here, we can show you a few pictures of us making it.


the shape of cursed signals to come


Annabelle's colour work


The above two combined...


Some structure being painted

We haven't yet the exact times that this game will run, but stay tuned.
We worked with two South East London primary schools on this, basing the work on drawings and exercises they did, you will probably also meet these amazing mariners if you visit us.

Prepare to get your sea-signal legs.